


Light

by whitecrossgirl



Series: Aurora Holmes [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27181396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitecrossgirl/pseuds/whitecrossgirl
Summary: On the most important day of his life; Sherlock reflects and makes a vow. This new light in the world would be protected until the day he died.
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper
Series: Aurora Holmes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984075
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	Light

Sherlock didn’t notice the dim light of the room as he walked inside. Late. He had been late and had he not been held up by having to prevent an assassination attempt on the Queen (the real one, not Mycroft), he would have been here on time. Instead, he had had to dodge a media circus, disguise himself completely, strip off said disguise and bribe the giggling nurse with a £50 note in order to slip into the room. He never had to sneak around Bart’s before but then again, today was a day of firsts.

After all, you didn’t become a father every day.

Sherlock approached the cot he was seeking. The room had about thirty of them, little plastic cots with each infant wrapped in a blue or pink blanket and their name inscribed on the front. A basic but effective way of telling them apart. His attention however was on the one in front of him. An infant wrapped in a pink blanket with a tuft of black wavy hair on her head. One clenched fist had escaped from her blanket and her lips pursed in her sleep. Just like her mother’s did.

Silently, carefully, Sherlock picked the baby girl out of the plastic cot. Six pounds and seven ounces, ten little fingers and ten little toes. Aurora Holmes. His daughter.

_May these words be the first  
To find your ears.  
The world is brighter than the sun  
Now that you’re here.  
Though your eyes will need some time to adjust  
To the overwhelming light surrounding us,_

That night, after they had left Sherrinford, Sherlock had headed straight to Molly’s flat. She had refused to open the door to him and instead, Sherlock began speaking through the door; not caring who heard. It only took two minutes for the door to open and Molly to glare at him.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Molly asked and Sherlock began to explain again. At the mention of Eurus, Molly led him inside and let him tell the whole story. Sherlock didn’t spare any detail. From each meaningless death Eurus caused to the truth about the phone call and what really happened to Victor. It was around the death of the three brothers that Molly grabbed his hand and refused to let it go.

“I thought you had been trying to make fun of me.” Molly said and Sherlock shook his head.

“Never.” Sherlock replied sincerely and Molly looked at their hands.

“The thing is, that call came at the worst time. Maybe this is the worst time to tell you this but just before the call, I hadn’t been feeling well and I was trying to diagnose my symptoms.” Molly began and Sherlock tightened his hold on her hand. Molly couldn’t be ill. It couldn’t be serious or terminal. He couldn’t lose her.

“What is it? What are the symptoms? What’s the condition?” Sherlock asked and Molly looked at him.

“Pregnancy.” Molly answered. “I’m pregnant Sherlock.”

The memory of that fateful day eight months prior twisted in his mind as Sherlock looked down at Aurora. That day he had made a new promise to himself. The mistakes of his past would not be repeated. Aurora was his clean slate, his new and last chance. His chance to do things right. By himself. By Molly and especially by Aurora. He would do better. He had to.  
  
 _I’ll give you everything I have.  
I’ll teach you everything I know.  
I promise I’ll do better.  
I will always hold you close,  
But I will learn to let you go.  
I promise I’ll do better._

“Hello, I don’t know if you can hear me. I think you can,” Sherlock whispered as not to wake Aurora or any of the other babies. “You were a little surprise. Your mother and I, well, we didn’t plan you. You just… sort of happened.”

It was true. Aurora was the result of a one night stand between him and Molly a month before Sherrinford. A one night stand which he assumed would remain a one-time thing. Something he had dismissed before his sister forced him to see Molly, see the truth and see for once, what damage he had done.

“Not that that’s a bad thing. You were a good surprise. The best surprise.” Sherlock said as he rocked Aurora gently. “You’re lucky, you have the most amazing mother in the world. The kindest, smartest, bravest, most loving woman in the world. You also have me as a Dad. I don’t know what sort of Dad I’ll be. I don’t know if I’ll be good at it. But I do know one thing. You will always be safe. You will never be hurt. Nobody would ever even think of harming you. I’ll destroy them before they even think about it.”

_I will soften every edge,  
I’ll hold the world to its best,  
And I’ll do better.  
With every heartbeat I have left  
I will defend your every breath,  
And I’ll do better._

“You’re not supposed to be in here.” Mycroft’s wry voice didn’t make Sherlock jump. Instead, Sherlock turned to see Mycroft looking at them intently. Sherlock knew that it wasn’t a trick of the light that caused a suspicious watery gleam in Mycroft’s eyes.

“Neither are you.” Sherlock said as he stepped forward. Somehow the news of Molly’s pregnancy had helped Mycroft come to terms with his guilt about what had happened to Eurus; the choices he had made and their outcome. As a teenager he had been faced with an impossible choice and realisation. He had two siblings but would only be able to save one of them. And he had had to live with that choice and every other choice he had made since. Like Sherlock, Mycroft had a fresh chance to do things right with Aurora. “Do you want to hold her.”

“H-hold her?” Mycroft looked momentarily horrified, as though Sherlock had offered to hand him a live grenade.

“Don’t drop her.” Sherlock warned as he handed Aurora to Mycroft. In all this time, she had stayed asleep. He suspected that nothing short of an explosion, or a filled nappy, would wake her now. Mycroft stared down at Aurora, taking a moment to study the curly black hair, the little pout of her lips, her soft rosy cheeks and little button nose. She looked equally like Sherlock and Molly but also her own person. Innocent. Beautiful. Perfect. In that instant, the feeling of holding both his new-born brother and new-born sister in his arms came back along with that same wave of overwhelming love, affection and protection. In that moment Sherlock and Mycroft knew they were thinking the same thing.

Sherlock would give his life in a heartbeat to save Molly and Aurora but Mycroft would do it before him.  
  
 _’Сause you are loved.  
You are loved more than you know.  
I hereby pledge all of my days  
To prove it so.  
Though your heart is far too young to realize  
The unimaginable light you hold inside,_

“How is Molly?” Mycroft asked as he passed Aurora back to Sherlock.

“Still asleep. She was in labour for nine hours which according to both Mrs Hudson and Mummy is a quick labour. I still managed to miss it.” Sherlock said, more annoyed at himself that it had taken that long to find the idiotic assassin who wanted to kill an old lady in her nineties than the actual assassination attempt.

“She’ll forgive you.” Mycroft said before pausing for dramatic effect. “Eventually.”

“Probably just when I take Aurora on her first case and then she’ll go right back to being angry at me.” Sherlock quipped as he smiled at his daughter. “She won’t keep you away from them forever. You’re going to be the second-best detective in the world. I’ll teach you everything, how to deduce people, how to solve murders, how to play violin, how to tease Uncle Mycroft with cake; your mother can teach you pathology but you’re going to be a detective. Aren’t you? Yes you are.”  
  
 _I’ll give you everything I have.  
I’ll teach you everything I know.  
I promise I’ll do better.  
I will always hold you close,  
But I will learn to let you go.  
I promise I’ll do better._

Eurus knew about Aurora. Well, she had deduced that Molly was pregnant the second time he had returned for their violin sessions; thankfully without Mummy and Daddy there to listen in case she had deduced how the baby had been conceived. It had been the first time she had spoken since Sherrinford. All she had said was one word, but it was enough.

“Baby.”

Sherlock instinctively nodded as relived the memory. He had kept playing and told her what he dared to. That Molly was now four-months pregnant. They were due to find out the sex and Sherlock had offered Eurus a veiled warning. That if anyone dared to harm Molly or their child then he would kill them, regardless of who they were. Eurus hadn’t said anything. She had just nodded and began playing her own violin. Sherlock recognised the melody at once. A lullaby. It was a promise of Eurus’ own. The baby would not be harmed. Not by her.

Mycroft had picked up on his train of thought. “Eurus won’t harm her Sherlock.”

“I know.” Sherlock said as he kissed Aurora’s forehead, finally getting a fainted mewling in response before he set Aurora down in her cot again. “Nobody will.”

_I will rearrange the stars,  
Pull ‘em down to where you are.  
I promise, I’ll do better.  
With every heartbeat I have left,  
I’ll defend your every breath.  
I promise I’ll do better._

Mycroft had wandered off after they left the hospital nursery and Sherlock made his way back to Molly’s room. Molly still lay asleep in bed and Sherlock sat on the edge of the bed beside her. It was strange to think how not even a year ago, he hadn’t imagined himself ever admitting the feelings he had so determinedly locked away. How he would have never admitted to himself, much less Molly, how he felt about her. Now not only were they in love but they had a perfect daughter who would be absolutely wonderful in whatever direction this life took her. As Sherlock put his arm around Molly, who nestled closer to him in her sleep, Sherlock’s free hand drifted into his pocket. It closed around the small box that resided in there.

He had been offered a knighthood for his actions today but he had chanced his arm (and possibly his head) and asked to receive a different reward from Her Majesty. One of her diamond rings. He had thought Mycroft would have finally had that big aneurysm Sherlock had been hoping for when he had asked but once he had explained that his actions had resulted in him missing the birth of his first child, coupled with his most charming smile and a brief puppy-dog pout; the Queen handed over one of her rings. With the sincere promise that their marriage would be for life.

It was only the second-easiest promise he had made today, Sherlock decided as he looked at Molly and thought of Aurora and his vow to keep them safe. That was his real last vow. The one that would last forever. He would always keep them safe. No matter what.

_I will soften every edge,  
Hold the world to its best.  
I promise I’ll do better.  
With every heartbeat I have left,  
I’ll defend your every breath,  
(I’ll do better.)_


End file.
